I received many responses to a column I wrote over my lament that I no longer row. The focus of that column was that we miss the things from the past, but do not get stuck in the lament.
Folks contacted me to let me know there was a rowing club in Brattleboro — (who knew?). They invited me.
I rowed for years, back surgery, took it up again, more surgery, took it up again, more issues. Stopped. Told my wife to throw my ashes near the river.
The folks who contacted me gave me a push, push. Racing is a bridge too far, but getting on the water again … maybe not. You have to manage your fears and climb through the open windows. Or else we just sit there. We go nowhere sitting.
The calls I received … well, the little things we do may seem insignificant, but they are a pebble thrown in a pond and those ripples keep going. You never know how someone at the edge will be affected.
Be mindful of what is in your pocket. We all have pebbles.
I am at the Works Thursday and Friday morning at 9 a.m. Stop by and say “hi.”
Jon Heydenreich is pastor at Brattleboro’s Trinity Lutheran Church.
